Why Dabo Swinney wore pink to support wife, family before Clemson-Miami game

CLEMSON — Every fall, Clemson football trades some of its orange for pink. That's because breast cancer awareness is close to Dabo Swinney's heart.

The family of Clemson 's football coach has been affected by the disease. Lisa Lamb, the sister of Swinney's wife, Kathleen, died of breast cancer in 2014 after a second battle with it. When Kathleen took a test, she learned that she carried a BRCA mutation that gave her a greater risk and underwent a preventative double mastectomy in 2005.

That history became the core of why Swinney is so passionate about breast cancer awareness.

Clemson (3-1, 2-0 ACC) is designating its home game against No. 4 Miami (4-0, 2-0) on Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m., ABC) as its annual Breast Cancer Awareness Game. Swinney wore a pink T-shirt during his press conference to preview the game, and Clemson will also give out wristbands to fans at Memorial Stadium that will light up pink.

Dabo's All In Team Foundation. October Breast Cancer Awareness month

"There's people, some right now, that's getting chemo. There's there's somebody right now getting diagnosed with breast cancer, the doctor is telling them right now," Swinney said during a Sept. 29 press conference. "Every two minutes, a lady is diagnosed with breast cancer, and that's happening right now as we're doing this press conference."

Swinney's shirt promoted "Tigers for Tatas," a partnership between Swinney's All In Team Foundation and The ROAR FM radio station. The radio station sells merchandise like hats and shirts, takes donations and runs auctions, among other initiatives, to raise money for the All In Team Foundation's breast cancer work, such as research, grants and mobile mammography units.

The "Tigers for Tatas" campaign has raised over $900,000 since it began in 2014, and Swinney hopes it can get to $1 million this year.

"There's a lot more than football out there, and this is just an opportunity to hopefully help bring some awareness and also some perspective to what we do," Swinney said.

Kathleen said on the Sept. 28 episode of the "Tiger Hour" radio show that the All In Team Foundation is closing in on $16 million for all its charity efforts, including breast cancer awareness. When Swinney leaves Clemson, he hopes that becomes a part of his legacy.

"When my time is up at Clemson, I hope it's really more about that and the lives that have been served and impacted through the work of the foundation and all the people that have been a part of it," Swinney said. "It's been amazing."

Nick Coppola covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA Today Network. Email him at ncoppola@usatodayco.com , follow him on X @Nick_Coppola__ and like his Facebook page at Nick Coppola, Clemson Sports.